A bearing is a device that allows for relative movement between two members in a constrained environment. To do so, bearings often have an annular cavity, a bore, that will allow the bearing to receive one member, which is often the rotary member. The rotary member is engaged against the interior surface of the bore. This surface composes a surface of the inner race of the bearing, which is fixed relative to the rotary member. The bearing also has an outer race, which allows for engagement with a fixed member, or a housing. Thus, the rotary member is allowed to move relative to the housing through the use of the bearing.
To fix, or stake, a bearing inside a housing, a bearing swaging tool is commonly used. A bearing swaging tool is used to place an axial force on the bearing through contact between annular movement of rollers on the swaging tool and a lip of the outer race of the bearing. The contact of the roller and the outer race of the bearing deforms the outer race to create a swaged lip. The swaged lip of the bearing is pressed flush with a chamfered edge of a housing, and the bearing is axially fixed in place within the housing. Such bearing swaging tools can be seen in the prior art, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,353.
However, while a bearing swaging tool allows a bearing to be fixed, or staked, in a housing, a different tool is commonly used to remove the bearing from the housing when the useful life of the bearing has expired. Because the swaged lip that is received in the chamfered edge of the housing is often flush, or nearly flush, with the surface of the housing, it is difficult to remove the bearing without damaging the housing. In fact, common bearing removal tools, such as bearing pullers, often engage and damage the housing when removing the bearing. The damage may be to the extent such that the housing needs replacement, adding another expense and additional time to the operation of replacing the bearing.
Some bearing removal tools are designed for use in portable situations, where the housing cannot be removed from its connecting structure and the bearing must be removed in its environment of the housing. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,455. Such bearing removal tools are composed of several parts that require considerable time for set-up, and must be disassembled before being used on another bearing fixed in another housing. As a result of the numerous parts, increased costs may be associated with the manufacture of such bearing removal tools. Furthermore, such portable tools are hand operated, increasing the time for actual removal of the bearing.
The prior art does not provide for a bearing removal tool or method that allows a bearing to be removed with speed and ease of use for the operator. Nor does the prior art provide for a preferred embodiment of a bearing removal tool or method that only engages the bearing, and not the housing, therefore preventing any damage to the housing. Such a tool would be useful for removing bearings where the housing can be removed from its connecting structure and taken to a separate work station, where several such items may be worked upon to remove the bearings from their respective housings.